⏵ Course guide · Northern Arizona night race
Blackout is Aravaipa's only Insomniac night race in northern Arizona, a headlamp run through the ponderosa pines of Fort Tuthill County Park above Flagstaff, above 7,000 feet the whole way. The climbing is moderate, the altitude and the dark are what make it work for its living. I will walk you through the loop first, then give you a pacing and fueling plan built for a high-elevation night race, with free calculators along the way to dial in your own numbers.
These facts come from the official Aravaipa race page and the Aravaipa race calendar. Check the current date, distances, cutoffs, and aid in the race-day details before you commit. Race logistics change year to year.
Every distance runs the same Soldiers Trail and Highlands Trail Loop at Fort Tuthill County Park, you just do more laps for a longer race. The 27K is two loops, the 13K one. The trail ranges from narrow single-track to wide, well-maintained forest paths, climbing through ponderosa pines above 7,000 feet before topping out on a mesa with views over the dark mountain landscape.
Aravaipa describes this loop as well graded for beginners while still letting an experienced runner stretch their legs, and in daylight that is exactly right. At night, on tired legs, the same trail asks more of you. Roots and edges that would be obvious at noon disappear in a headlamp beam, so run within what your light actually shows you, not what you remember from the course map.
The course tops out near 7,137 feet, and Fort Tuthill itself sits above 7,000 feet the whole way. If you live near sea level, that thinner air will make an easy grade feel harder than it looks on paper, especially in the first loop before your breathing settles in. Arriving a day or two early to acclimatize, or simply dialing back your effort on the climbs relative to what you would run at home, pays off more than raw fitness here.
Blackout runs the evening before the daytime Flagstaff Extreme Big Pine Trail Runs at the same venue, and finishing any distance at both earns a bonus Double Down medal. If you are considering the double, treat Blackout as the harder effort to protect, since you will be back on the same trails again just hours later.
With a 5-hour cutoff on a moderate loop, the real pacing question is not whether you finish, it is how comfortably. Respecting elevation early protects the effort you need for later loops.
At altitude your normal easy effort produces a higher heart rate and heavier breathing than it would at home, and that surprises a lot of runners into starting too fast by feel alone. Use a grade-adjusted pace target rather than trusting how the first climb feels, and give yourself the first loop to let your breathing settle into the thinner air before you judge your fitness against the course.
A flat-ground pace from home tells you very little about a headlamp loop above 7,000 feet. A vert-aware finish prediction built for this course's climbing gives you an honest window to check against the midnight cutoff, and on a looped course you get to confirm it after just one lap instead of waiting until you are deep into the race to find out you misjudged it.
⏵ Free tools to pace this course
A 27K under 5 hours does not demand heavy fueling, but running at elevation and after sunset both push your fluid needs up more than the modest distance suggests.
For an effort in the 2 to 5 hour range, aim for roughly 30 to 60 grams of carbohydrate an hour, using the aid stations every 4 to 4.4 miles to stay topped off rather than carrying everything yourself. Altitude can blunt appetite for some runners, so favor whatever you know you can stomach over anything untested.
Higher elevation and dry mountain air pull more fluid from you than a cool Flagstaff evening feels like it should, so carry at least one bottle between aid stations as Aravaipa recommends and drink on a schedule rather than waiting until you are thirsty. Sodium in the 300 to 500 mg per liter range covers most runners on a race this length.
⏵ Build your fueling plan
Get a carb, sodium, fluid, and caffeine plan per hour built for your weight, your goal time, and a high-elevation night race with the free ultra fueling calculator. Browse the rest of the free running tools at the tools hub.
⏵ Train for it with Summit Line
Get a race-day plan built around YOUR fitness, this exact Fort Tuthill loop profile, and your projected splits. Summit Line reads your real training, builds a plan for elevation and night running, and rehearses your fueling so race night is something you execute, not guess at.
It is a moderate trail distance made harder by two things stacked on top of each other: elevation and darkness. The course sits above 7,000 feet in the Flagstaff pines, tops out near 7,137 feet, and you run it entirely by headlamp. The climbing itself is not extreme, roughly 1,293 feet over two loops for the 27K, but thin air at altitude changes your effort math even on gentle grades, and running technical single-track in a headlamp beam slows almost everyone down. The 5-hour cutoff is generous for the distance, so most of the difficulty here is managing altitude and night running rather than surviving a brutal climb.
The 27K, which runs two full loops of the Soldiers Trail and Highlands Trail Loop, carries about 1,293 feet of total gain, topping out on a mesa near 7,137 feet with views of the night sky over the Flagstaff pine forest. The 13K, a single loop, is roughly half that. None of the climbing is severe, the course is described as well graded for beginners, but doing it at elevation and in the dark makes the effort feel harder than the numbers suggest.
Blackout is Aravaipa Insomniac series, their name for races deliberately run after dark, and it is the only one of the series in northern Arizona. Here the appeal is less about beating heat (Flagstaff nights are cool even in summer) and more about the pine forest, the mesa views under a dark sky, and the standalone challenge of racing technical trail by headlamp. A real headlamp is required, and the trail ranges from narrow single-track to wider forest paths, so pick a line early and trust your light.
The cutoff for every distance is midnight, which gives 27K starters about 5 hours from their 7:00 PM start. That is a comfortable window for a course this size, even with the elevation and the dark working against you. Always confirm the exact current-year cutoff and start times before you race, since Aravaipa adjusts timing slightly year to year.
Aid stations sit every 4 to 4.4 miles on the 27K loop, roughly one every lap plus the start/finish, stocked with water, electrolyte drink, sweet and salty snacks, and fruit. Because it can still be warm at the start and you are running at elevation, Aravaipa recommends carrying at least one bottle of water between stops rather than relying purely on aid spacing.
It is one of the more approachable ways to try night trail racing. The course is well graded for beginners, the loop format means you are never far from the start/finish and a drop bag, and the 5-hour cutoff leaves real margin. The two things to train for on purpose are the altitude, if you live at lower elevation, get to Flagstaff a day or two early if you can, and the dark itself: run at least one or two training runs at night so your headlamp and your depth perception feel normal before race night.
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<a href="https://runsummitline.com/guides/blackout-night-runs">The Blackout Night Runs course guide</a>This guide is independent and for planning only. The course details, dates, distances, cutoffs, and aid come from public sources and can change year to year, so confirm the current specifics with the official race before you register or run. The fueling and pacing advice is general and not medical advice.